The Barnstable boys varsity lacrosse team made their way into the quarterfinals, but it wasn’t quite the victory head coach Greg Clements hoped it would be.

After a commanding start, the team made it close, a little too close for Clements’ comfort, with Barnstable eking out a 13-12 win against Westford Academy on May 30.

“For the first 15 minutes things went real well,” said Clements. “We scored our seventh goal three minutes into the second quarter to make it 7-1.”

From that point on, however, the Raiders, according to Clements, just didn’t play as well as they could.
“They didn’t control the pace of the game,” Clements said of his team. “We created a pace that was far too hectic [and] what that does is allow the other team to come way back.”

And come back they did. After trailing behind Barnstable through much of the first half, Westford’s Grey Ghosts rallied back to tie the Raiders 11-11 at the end of the third quarter.

“If we had kept our pace slow and deliberate we would have kept our lead,” said Clements.
Barnstable regained its momentum, however, when senior John Gomes found the net with a transition goal, giving the Raiders back the lead.

“For him to get that goal, I think our whole team fed off of that,” Clements said. “I think that played a huge part in getting our feet back underneath us.”

In the game’s final quarter, thanks to solid work in net from goalie Mark McNaughton, Barnstable held Westford to just one goal, and held on to the much-needed win.
“Mark really stepped up for the team in terms of leadership,” said Clements. “He took a lot of weight on his shoulders. Mark was certainly the guy trying to provide some direction for the team.”

In the end, McNaughton had a career high 17 saves for Barnstable. Offensively, Brett Serriello had three goals and one assist, while brother Bryce had two goals. Tom Horn also had two goals, as well as three assists, and brother Mike netted two goals. Rounding out the scoring were Luke McGuinness with two goals, one assist, Steve Glover, one goal, two assists, and Gomes, with one goal.

The No. 4 seed Raiders move on to face No. 5 Lincoln-Sudbury at the field at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High tomorrow (June 3) with a 5 p.m. start.